[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Bug squashing days

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi all,

Last fall, I put out an e-mail message suggesting community bug 
squashing days- http://markmail.org/message/22six3nkgbhr3f3t. It 
received some support at the time, but I didn't do any follow-through to 
make it happen.

Last week, I took some time to update a local spreadsheet I'm 
maintaining on Launchpad bugs that are important to libraries in the 
three MassLNC networks. I was pleased to remove some bugs that have 
since been fixed, but then I added a whole lot more. We started with 
about 50 bugs on the list, and the number is now at 83. These numbers 
reminded me of how it important it is that we try to allocate some time 
on a community level to fix bugs.

I have a more formal proposal I would like to put forward and, if it's 
agreeable to others, I commit to doing my part to try to make these days 
happen.

Proposal: Evergreen Bug Squashing Days

Goal: The goal of bug squashing days is for contributors and volunteers 
to commit the entire day to the following activities:

* Fixing bugs
* Testing bugs that have pullrequests
* General bug wrangling activities (confirming bugs, marking duplicates, 
etc.)
* Pushing bug fixes into Evergreen (for core committers)

When:
I'm proposing that we try to schedule bug squashing days on a quarterly 
basis. I was thinking August/November/February/May would be a good 
schedule where the bug squashing days aren't running up against an 
Evergreen release.

What is Needed:
* Somebody to work on scheduling the day and set up a wiki page (I 
volunteer, but am happy to hand off the task or work with somebody else 
if needed.)
* Volunteers willing to devote a day of their time to the above 
activities. These volunteers do not need to just be developers or sys 
admins. Anyone can confirm bugs, look for duplicates, or perhaps team up 
with a sys admin to test patches.

Extras:
The idea for these bug squashing days came from similar days organized 
by the Koha community. 
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Category:Global_bug_squashing_days. 
They do a couple of things that I would love to see for Evergreen bug 
squashing days.

* The Koha community uses this great scoreboard on bug squashing days - 
http://scoreboard.koha-community.org/.  The code for the scoreboard is 
available at https://gitorious.org/scoreboard/scoreboard. It would be 
great if we had a volunteer who was willing to create a similar 
scoreboard for Evergreen bug squashing days.
* The Koha community also has Sandboxes available that makes it easier 
for librarians to test patches. It may be a little difficult to pull 
together something  for Evergreen that's as automated as these 
Sandboxes, but I think it's worthwhile to set a goal to eventually have 
some Sandbox servers available to the Evergreen community where patches 
can be tested (not just on Bug Squashing days).

I've also added this proposal to the agenda for Monday's developers 
meeting. If there is general support for this idea, then I'll put out a 
Doodle poll next week to see if we can schedule a day.

Thanks all!
Kathy

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier